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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 3 Hansard (10 April) . . Page.. 896 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

Mr Speaker, I sincerely hope that these matters will be dealt with in a suitable way. I hope that they can be dealt with in a way which will ensure some ongoing security of employment for staff and some confidence in the conditions under which staff are going to have to work. That is what I want to do. Mr Speaker, you cannot help but conclude, when you look at the way that Mrs Carnell has handled this matter over the last 12 months, that her principal objective has been a simple one - to destabilise the work of her political opponents, to destabilise the staff of her political opponents and, indeed, her opponents within her own party, by preoccupying them with anxieties about these issues.

The purpose of these amendments is to change the balance of power here, to put an end to Mrs Carnell's campaign of destabilisation. When she brings something down the Assembly will be able to say yes or no, instead of having a situation where she has all the cards and everybody else has to sweat on whether she is going to carry out one of her threats to reduce somebody's staffing allocation or to change someone's conditions of employment. We are not going to put up with that anymore. It might not be the ideal outcome, as Mr Humphries said; but that is the outcome we have to have because of the way Mrs Carnell has conducted herself on this matter. I urge members to support the legislation. It should not have been necessary, but it is.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Bill agreed to in principle.

Leave granted to dispense with the detail stage.

Bill agreed to.

Proposed new clauses 4A, 4B and 4C

Debate resumed from 8 April 1997.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment, Land and Planning) (3.57): Mr Speaker, to give Ms Horodny a bit of time to return to the chamber, let me just make a comment that on Tuesday there was a meeting of members interested in this legislation at which we considered the direction of this legislation. I can indicate that I stand by the arguments I put on the last occasion as to why the Assembly should not support Ms Horodny's amendment. In the interim I have written to the chair of the rural task force and asked him to take on board the issues concerning property management agreements which Ms Horodny has raised in her amendment. I have circulated a copy of that letter to other members who were at the meeting. I am not sure whether they have received their copies yet. If not, they are coming very soon. It indicates that I have asked him to respond to me in the task force report with that information at the time concerned. I would urge members to allow that report to come forward before we consider the issues that Ms Horodny has put to the Assembly with this amendment.

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